Vehicle turn signal



March 16, 1948. c. E. EDWARDS VEHICLE TURN SIGNAL Filed Jan. 8, 1946 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 16, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEVEHICLE TURN SIGNAL Charles E. Edwards, Santa Paula, Calif.

Application January 8, 1946, Serial No. 639,853

7 Claims. 1 The invention. aims to provide ra novel, easily operable,effective and durable signal for use on al1 kinds of motor vehicles,toconspicuously show the` drivers intentions as to turning or proceedingstraight-ahead.; thereby overcoming numerous misunderstandings andhazards heretofore encountered, as wellas overcoming the necessity oiextending one arm beyond. the vehicle body for hand signalling, citeni-n inclement weather,` and overcoming also the necessity of one armdriving while so doing.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is a, vertical sectional viewlooking toward the front of the. signal,

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on line 2--2 Fig. l.

Fig..3 is a vertical section online 3*-3 of Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective View.

Fig.. 5r is a plan view of the controlling switch.

Fig. 6 is -a perspective view of the spring which restores the.signalling arrow to straight-ahead position after each turning thereofto the right or left.

A preferred construction has been illustrated and will ber ratherspecically described, attention, however, being invited to thepossibility of making variations within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

A vertically disposed casing 'l is providedvconsisting of a lowercup-shaped section 8 preferably formed from. metal suitably plated forprotection, and an upper dome-like section 9 of transparent material,the two sections being secured removably together by means of anappropriate clamping band Hl. The section 8 is provided with anappropriate attaching bracket il and section preferably carries a trafcmirror l2.

Fixedly mounted in any appropriate way, for example, by meansof screwsi3, within the upper portion of the lower casing section 8, is a cuplikebody t4, the bottom and side wall of which are denotedat l5 and i6respectively. The central portion of the bottom l5 carries appron priateelectric light socket I7 for a conventional bulb I8 and at diametricallyopposite sides of said socket and spaced outwardly from the latter, the

body I 4 is formed .with two integral inwardly pro.

jecting lugs i9 which are joined bothto the bottom I5 and side wall i6,the lower portion of one ci said lugs being formed with a notch 28opening through the inner end of said lug for a purpose to appear. Thecentral, socket-carrying portion of the bottom l5 is formed with anupstanding boss 2l which is surrounded rotatably by the lower end of anupwardly flared arrow-carrying membei' 22. This member projects abovethe body lll through a central opening in aplate 23 resting upon saidbody, and is provided at its upper end Witha removable dome-like cap 2tpreferably held in place by means of screws 25 extending through itsperipheral portion and' into the subjacent endof the member 22. The capv22 has an integral internal cross bar 25, and this cross bar and thesuperposed portion of said cap have vertically alined slots 2l. Thedownwardly projecting shank 2S of a horizontal signalling arrow 2Q,extends into these slots and is fastened to the cap by means of a boltilextending through said shank and the bar 2G. The arrow 29 is of lightwpermeable. material, is confined within the transparent upper section 9of the casing l, and is to be conspicuously illuminated by' means of thebulb lil, the rays of which permeate said arrow through thev lower edgeof its shank t. Lucite or other appropriate transparent material maywell be used for this arrow and for the casing sectionS and the Lucitefrom which said arrow is formed is preferably red' or some otherconspicuous color.

A suitable spring 3l, mounted upon the bottom i the -body ld andconnected with the rotatable member 22, serves to normally hold thearrow 25 in a straight-ahead position, and two electromagnets 32 and anarmature 33 are employed to turn the member 22 and arrow 2S either tothe right or the left, as required, said magnets being mounted upon thebett-om i5 l'of the body it and said armature being suitably secured tothe lower end of the member 22, said armature normally occupying thenotch 2B above described.

The casing section 8 is provided at its front and rear with upper andlower lenses Si and 3E., thelenses 34 beinggreen and the lenses 35 red.Upper and lower light passages 35 and 3l are formed through the lugs i9and side wall l@ of the body lil, in alinement with the upper and lowerlenses Sil and 35 respectively, for cooperation with upper and loweropenings 33 and El? in the member 22, said openings and es being solocated that when vthe arrow 29 occupies straight ahead position, theopenings 38 aline with the light passages 36 and when said arrow isswung to a right-turn or left-turn position, the lower openings 33register with the light passages Thus, when the bulb IS is illuminatedto conspicuously illuminate the arrow 2E, the green upper lenses 32 willhe illuminated as long as said arrow occupies the straight-aheadposition, but if said arrow be turned to right yor leit, the lower redlenses 35 will be illuminated. Thus,

not only does the arrow indicate the drivers intentions in a veryconspicuous manner, but his intention to proceed straight-ahead is shownif the green lenses be illuminated, and warning of a turn is given byillumination of the red lenses when the arrow 29 is swung in onedirection or the other.

In order' to give the desired effect, light rays must permeate the arrow29 only through its lower edge portions, in the present disclosure, and,therefore, the subjacent portions of the device are all opaque, exceptthe lenses 34 and 35. It is preferable to form the body I4, top plate23, and member 22, with its cap 24, all from suitable opaque plastic orthe like, but obviously the invention is not restricted to the use ofany particular material or materials.

Any desired switch mechanism may of course be employed for energizingone or the other of the electro-magnets 32. For illustrative purposes, Ihave in a general way disclosed a switch '46 in Fig. 5, said switchhaving an operating lever 4l actuated by hand and movable to threepositions. The wiring for the bulb I8 may also be connected with thisswitch to be controlled thereby, and the bulb i8 may either beilluminated constantly or only when the arrow 29 is to be turned to oneposition or the other. It is preferable, however, that said bulb beconstantly illuminated while the car is in motion and I have, therefore,indicated a separate switch 42 for controlling the circuit of said bulb.The switch 42 is carried by the casing of theswitch 40 and this casingmay well be secured to the steering column by means of a clamp 43, al-

though it could of course be mounted at some other convenient location.

From the foregoing, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,it will be seen that novel and advantageous provision has been made forattaining the desired end. While preferences have been disclosed,attention is again invited to the possibility of making variationswithin the scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

1. A turning signal comprising a casing having a side wall provided witha transparent portion, an arrow within the confines of said transparentwall portion and normally occupying a straight-ahead position, saidarrow being formed v of light-permeable material, signal lenses cai*-ried by said side wall and spaced vertically from said transparent wallportion, a body secured in said casing and spaced vertically from saidtransparent wall portion, said body having radial light passagesextending to said lenses, a hollow member rotatable in said body andcarrying said arrow, means for turning said hollow member to turn saidarrow to a right-turn position and to a left-turn position, an edge ofsaid arrow being exposed to the interior of said hollow member, and alight source within said hollow member for illuminating said arrow bydirecting lightrays into it through said edge portion, said hollowmember having light-conducting openings to admit light rays from saidsource to said light passages to illuminate said lenses according to theposition of said arrow.

2. A turning signal comprising a casing having a side wall provided witha transparent upper portion, a body secured in said casing under said Ytransparent wall portion, said body having a bottom, a side wallprojecting upwardly from said bottom, and two diametrically opposed lugsprojecting inwardly from this side wall, said -body having radial lightpassages extending from the inner ends of said lugs to the casing sidewall, signal lenses secured to said casing side wall at the ends of saidlight passages, a top plate upon said body and having a central opening,a hollow member extending through said opening and rotatably mounted ona vertical axis, said hollow member being disposed between said lugs, anarrow secured upon the upper end of said hollow member and disposedwithin the confines of said transparent portion of said casing wall,means for turning said hollow member to turn said arrow to a right-turnposition and to a leftturn position, and a light source mounted on saidbottom of said body and disposed in said hollow member for illuminatingsaid arrow, said hollow member having openings for admitting light tosaid light passages to illuminate said lenses according to the positionof said arrow.

3. A structure as specied in claim 2; said hollow member having a cap atits upper end directly overlying said top plate, and removable to giveaccess to said light source.

4. A turning signal comprising a casing having a transparent wallportion, an arrow within the connes of said transparent wall portion,said arrow being formed of light-permeable material exposed to viewthroughout the length of said arrow, a light source in said casing andspaced from an edge portion of said arrow, opaque means in said casingshielding all but said edge portion of said arrow against direct raysfrom said light source, said opaque means including a hollow rotatablymounted member carrying said arrow and containing said light source, andmeans for turning said hollow rotatably mounted member to selectivelyturn said arrow to any of a plurality of signalling positions.

5. A turning signal comprising a casing having a transparent wallportion, an arrow within the confines of said transparent wall portion,said arrow being formed of light-permeable material exposed to viewthroughout the length of said arrow, said arrow having a light-permeableattaching shank between its ends, a hollow rotatably mounted member insaid casing having a slot in which said attaching shank is secured,means for turning said hollow member to selectively turn said arrow toany of a plurality of signalling positions, and a light source in saidhollow member for illuminating said arrow by directing rays only intosaid shank, provision being made to shield said arrow against otherillumination by said light source.

6. In a signal, a signalling member, said signalling member being formedof light-permeable material exposed to view throughout the length ofsaid signalling member, a hollow rotatably mounted member carrying saidsignalling member, means for turning said hollow member to selectivelyturn said signalling member to any of a plurality of signallingpositions, said signalling member having an edge portion exposed to theinterior of said hollow member, and a light source in said hollow memberfor illuminatintr said signalling member by directing rays into ltthrough said exposed edge portion thereof.

7 In a signal, a signalling member, said signalling member being formedof light-permeable material exposed to view throughout the length ofsaid signalling member, said signalling member having a light-permeableattaching shank, a hollow rotatably mounted member having a slot in oneend in which said shank is secured, means for turning said hollow memberto selectively 5 turn said signalling member to any of a plurality ofsignalling positions, and a light source within said hollow member forilluminating said signalling member by directing rays into saidattaching shank.

CHARLES E. EDWARDS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

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